On January 28, 2015, the Brazilian government submitted to a Public Consultation the regulation of the Brazilian Internet Act (Law 12,965/2014). During 30 days, the public in general may present contributions and comments on the draft Presidential Decree that will regulate the act ("Decree").

The main points pending regulation are:

(i) Neutrality: the Decree will regulate the exceptions to the network neutrality principle. Pursuant to the Brazilian Internet Act, the neutrality will not be mandatory when (a) it is incompatible with essential technical requirements of services and applications; and (b) degradation of traffic and data is necessary to prioritize emergency services;

(ii) Privacy: the Decree will regulate the security and secrecy standards applicable to the storage of personal data;

(iii) Penalties: the Decree will regulate the procedure for the assessment of violations to the Brazilian law in the collection, storage and treatment of personal data.

This is an important point of the regulation, considering the penalties imposed by the Brazilian Internet Act in connection with such violations (that range from warnings to prohibition of activities and fines up to 10% of the net revenues of the infringer's economic group in Brazil).

On the same date and also for a 30-day period, the Bill of Law on Personal Data Protection was also submitted to public consultation. The main points covered by the bill are:

(i) Definition of personal, sensitive and anonymous data;

(ii) Definition of the rights of personal and sensitive data subjects;

(iii) Definition on the possible forms of treating personal and sensitive data;

(iv) Definition of the categories of agents involved in the treatment of personal and sensitive data, and the creation of different levels of liability applicable to those that control the treatment of data and those that simply treat data following third parties' instructions; and

(v) Specific rules applicable to international transfer of personal data.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.